Do’s and Don’ts of Resume Writing and Editing

Crafting a resume is an important part of your job search. A well-written resume should highlight your skills and experience in a straightforward manner that aligns with the position you’re applying for. Unsure how much to include, or what to leave out? Here are some do’s and don’ts of resume writing and editing that will help see you through to the interview round.

What is the purpose of a resume?

Think of your resume as a calling card, a means of selling yourself to a prospective employer. A resume is typically a one to two-page summary that showcases your work experiences, skills, capabilities and accomplishments. Resumes can take many forms, from a website to a LinkedIn profile to good old paper. Depending on the need, your resume should be available in more than one format.

Before you begin writing your resume

The first step is understanding what makes you stand out. Begin by identifying your unique strengths, skills and capabilities. Include a mix of soft and hard skills on your resume. If you need help understanding the difference between capabilities and strengths, the Prepped Learning Library can help.A resume for the financial industry will look different from one for a creative industry, where you could make use of infographics or multimedia to stand out from the competition. Research resume examples from other people in the industry or with similar positions to the one you’re applying for. You want your resume to look professional, so start with a template. Prepped has free templates available to help you effortlessly build your resume (and the accompanying cover letter).

Resume do’s

Make your resume shine with these tips.

• Customize your resume for the position you’re applying for. Simplify the process by starting with a master resume, which lists all your skills and experience in the one document, then tailor each resume highlighting your relevant skills to reflect the job posting.
• Make your resume easy to read. Use a clean, easy to read font and refrain from squeezing too much information on one page.
• Keep each section of your resume brief, including your summary and work or volunteer experience.
• Job titles and companies should stand out — bold the information or use a slightly larger font size. A busy recruiter may only spend a minute on your resume, so you want important information such as this to stand out.
• Verbs are your best friend on a resume. For example, to showcase your leadership qualities, use words such as “accomplished,” “achieved,” and “led.”
• List your accomplishments rather than job duties. For example, rather than saying “event planning,” write “coordinated annual company-wide town hall for 500 employees.” If there are any numbers or percentages, and you can put what you’ve achieved, even better.
• Spell check and proofread before you send it out. If grammar isn’t your strong suit, there are online tools available or have a friend or colleague review your resume.
• Send your resume as a PDF rather than a word file. That way, margins will stay put, and you can be confident that when an employer opens the file, the resume is formatted the way you want.